In our relentless drive to discover and fulfill our potential, we are always online, always connected, reflecting an underlying belief that we have a short life and limited time to accomplish our goals. Today’s fast-paced world demands that people work remotely, irrespective of their location. In this relentless march to fulfill a purpose, it’s easy to forget that the large amounts of user-generated data require computing power that is decentralized. For businesses, demand was outpacing the availability of data centers.
The Advent of Cloud
I remember it was 2007 and “cloud” was just entering the mainstream conversation heralding a change in the industry. Cloud service providers were trying to address this very demand with their Virtual Machines and pay as you go, model. I have talked about different types of cloud services in my previous article a few years back when cloud computing was getting popular.
And then Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone on June 29th, 2007.
The Smartphone Revolution
From then on, with the proliferation of smart mobile devices, end users with ever-increasing services and entertainment with always-on connectivity started demanding sub-second “time to load” of applications. For many businesses, it was time to look beyond pay as you go and reserved instances model to conserve capital and find a cost-effective alternative to building a native data center.
Enter the boon, Data Center Colocation
As a data center and colocation consultant, I have seen businesses benefit from colocating their data storage and delivery. I along with my company, DataCenterAndColocation.com, represent over 3000 data centers and colocation centers in the United States and Canada to identify specific space, location, and power and security requirements tailor-made for businesses of all kinds. We received the 2015 San Diego award in the professional services category for our exceptional marketing success. During my 25 years of work in the data center, colocation managed hosting and cloud facility, I know that colocation offers certain distinct advantages because they are
Carrier Neutral:
Datacenter colocation providers offer their customers’ network connectivity options opening up a competitive pricing platform for customers to enjoy lower rates. Multiple carriers provide an opportunity for customers to take advantage of blended offering and ensure 100% availability of the network. This also supports low latency, hybrid models.
Reliable:
Datacenter colocation facilities provide more efficient power and cooling than server rooms established in buildings that weren’t meant to be data centers, allowing companies to rely on and consume fewer energy resources.
The Cost Factor
The one thing all my clients unanimously agree upon is the cost savings factor. With these clients, I’ve seen that many companies save money and have greater resilience in a data center.
Savings in Power Costs
We all know that data centers are power-hungry and the need of the hour is to reduce power costs. The preliminary planning, designing and construction costs alone eat up close to 25% of your budget while setting up a data center.
Construction costs
With today’s construction costs skyrocketing, enterprises need to invest heavily in creating the infrastructure. Add to that the maintenance costs and the security, power, and cooling costs as well and colocation would be the best alternative.
Computing Costs
The astronomical costs of infrastructure equipment with various configurations that go into supporting the processes are formidable. These costs can range anywhere from $7,500 to $20,000 per kilowatt of load and can vary depending on the needs of different companies. The US Chamber of Commerce gives a more detailed picture of capital and operating expenditure for data centers.
The Scalability Factor
Apart from the savings in construction costs, colocation centers also help companies save substantially when it comes to scaling the computing resources. Colocation centers enjoy the liberty to scale up quickly in order to suit current needs. This is beneficial for small and medium businesses that need never have to pay a dime more than required and can scale up at will, whenever required.
About DataCenterandColocation
DataCenterandColocation is a free professional and non-bias service provided to clients for selecting the right data center, colocation, managed hosting or cloud facility for their requirements. DataCenterandColocation is one of the largest colocation site consulting firms in the United States. They represent approximately 3000 data centers and colocation centers in the United States and Canada. At no cost to clients, they identify specific space, location, power and security requirements, solicit proposals, professionally analyze the responses, compare the strengths and weaknesses of each facility, negotiate to price and deliver highly competitive bids for colocation. They also perform a comparative analysis of in-house vs. design-build services, wholesale data center space, and data connectivity.